Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of the text of PMs Address to the inaugural event of Ramayana Darshanam Exhibition at Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari, via video conferencing
Most respected Morari Bapu Ji, President of the Vivekananda Kendra Shri P Parmeshvaran Ji, my ministerial colleague Pon Radhakrishnan Ji , Swami Ji of the Vivekananda Ashram Chaitanyanand Ji, Balakrishna Ji, Bhanudas Ji, Vice President of the Vivekananda Kendra Nivedita Ji and my dear friends!
I would have loved to be in your midst but thanks to the power of technology, we are connected on this occasion. And, in any case, I am no guest but am a part of this family. I am one of your own.
12th January- this is no ordinary day. This is a day etched in history as a day when India was blessed with one of the greatest thinkers, a guiding light and a stalwart who took India’s message to the entire world.
I offer my tributes to the revered Swami Vivekananda. He was a giant, whose powerful thoughts continue to shape several minds.
Today, Ramaayan Darshanam and Bharat Mata Sadanam in Vivekanandpuram are being dedicated to the public. Twenty seven feet tall statue of Hanuman Ji that is carved out of a single stone is being installed here. I have seen the video related to it that was sent to me by you people. And after having seen the video I can say that the statue has both divinity and splendor.
The portrait of the founder of Vivekanand Kendra Late Eknath Ranade is also getting inaugurated today. I heartily congratulate all of you for today’s event.
Brothers and sisters, that place is not an ordinary place where you are present today. This land is like a holy land of this country. If Hanuman Ji got his purpose of life then he got it at this place only when Jamwant told him that the only purpose of his birth was to do the work of Lord Shri Ram. On this land, mother Parvati, Kanyakumari got her purpose in life. This is the land where great social reformer saint Thiruvalluvar got the Amrit of knowledge two thousand years ago. This is the land where Swami Vivekananda too got his purpose in life. He got to know about his purpose of life and also got the guidance to fulfill his purpose in life after doing meditation here. This is the place where Eknath Ranade got a new turn of his life, got a new turn in his journey of life. A new goal was set. He sacrificed his entire life to accomplish this thing under one life one mission mode. I bow down to this pious land, this holy land thousand times.
When we were celebrating the birth centenary of Eknath Ranade Ji then I had said that it was the time to awake the youths. Our India is young, it should become divine and glorious. Today, the world is looking at India to experience the divinity and India’s poor, India’s oppressed, persecuted, exploited and disadvantaged masses are expecting splendor for the country. We have to move forward in the direction of building the nation by combining the two – divinity for the world and splendor for the country.
Brothers and sisters, today India is the youngest country in the world. It’s an young country. More than 800 million people are below the age of 35 years. Today, Swami Vivekanand is not amongst us, not in the human form but his ideas are so powerful, so inspirational that it shows the path of nation building by galvanizing the youth.
Eknath Ranade ji had established Vivekanand Kendra and Swami Vivekanand Rock Memorial to galvanise this strength of the youth. Eknath Ranade Ji used to say that just having a fondness for Swami Vivekanand would not change anything. He considered the regular contribution to realize the country of the dreams of Swami Vivekanand very important.
It was the goal of development of youths like Vivekanad Ji for which Eknath Ji dedicated his entire life. He always tried to inculcate the same values and ethics of the nation building in the youth that were held by Swami Vivekanand Ji. It’s my great fortune that I got the opportunity to work as a close associate of Eknath Ji for several years. I got several opportunities to improve my life in his company on this land only.
It was decided on the occasion of the birth centenary of Eknath Ranade to start an exhibition depicting the influence of Ramayana on our culture and our thought process. And today Ramayan Darshnam is before us in a very glorified way. And I’m confident that those domestic and foreign travelers who come to visit the Rock Memorial, this Ramayan Darshanam would greatly inspire them, and influence them. Shri Ram is present in every single speck of the country. He is present in everyone’s mind. And therefore when we think of Shri Ram then Shri Ram was an ideal son, ideal brother, ideal husband, ideal friend and he was an ideal ruler. Ayodhya was an ideal city and Ram Rajya  was an ideal system of governance that is why the Lord Ram and the attraction of his kingdom keeps inspiring the great souls of the country from time to time to explain Ramayana in their own ways. These exegesis will be reflected in Ramayana Darshanam.
Great poet Kamban had described the kigdom of Koshal as a well governed state in the Kamb Ramayanam. I would like to translate in English what he has written in Tamil :
None were generous in that land as
None was needy;
None seemed brave as none defied;
Truth was unnoticed as there were no liars;
No learning stood out as all were learned.
Since no one in that City ever stopped learning
None was ignorant and none fully learned;
Since all alike had all the wealth
None was poor and none was rich.
This is how Kamban presented the Ram Rajya . Mahatma Gandhi used to talk about Ram Rajya due to these virtues only. It was certainly a system in which person was not important but the principles were important.
Goswami Tulsidas has described the Ram Rajya in a detail manner in Ramcharit Manas. Ram Rajya means where there is no one poor, no one is sorrowful, no one hates anyone, where everyone is healthy and well learned. Where there is a balance between the nature and the man. He has written -
दैहिक दैविक भौतिक तापा, राम राज नहिं काहुहि व्यापा।
सब नर करहिं परस्पर प्रीती, चलहिं स्वधर्म निरत श्रुति नीति।
अल्पमृत्यु नहिं कवनिउ पीरा, सब सुंदर सब बिरुज सरीरा।
नहिं दरिद्र कोउ दुखी न दीना, नहिं कोउ अबुध न लच्छन हीना।
Ram did not become great by conquering Ravan. Ram only emerged in his true spirit when he took along with him as his trueself when he took along the poorest of the poor, people without any means with him. He restored their sense of self pride in them and instilled a sense of victory in them. Lord Ram did not accept that role in his life as was ordained by his lineage. We come to know about several things in each couplet. When he came out of Ayodhya, even before coming out the boundary of the city, by encompassing the whole world, whole humanity in him, he set the live example through his life that what are the ideals, what the values are and what it means to dedicate one’s life to those values.
And that’s why I think that this Ramayan Darshanam in Vivekanandpuram is very relevant in itself and all of us know that for the progress a strong society is needed and the governance should be good governance.
When we think of Ram Ji then the development of man, development of the system are reflected naturally.
Brothers and sisters, Eknath Ji also always wanted to deploy the country’s working power in constructive work by awakening its spiritual power. And today when the statue of Hanuman Ji is being installed at Vivekanand Kendra then we understand the inspiration of his this statement.
Hanuman Ji means self-less service, Hanuman Ji was that form of dedication and devotion in which self-less service had become the ultimate goal. When he was flying over the sea then the Mainak Mountain offered him to provide rest in the middle but for Hanuman Ji there was no scope for complacency before achieving his goal. He did not rest till the time he achieved his goal.
Bharat Ratna C. Rajgopalachari had written about Hanuman Ji’s devotion to the self-less service. When Hanuman Ji returns after meeting goddess Sita and he informs Lord Ram about the wellbeing of the mother goddess then Ram Ji says:
"The deed done by Hanumaan none else in the world could even conceive of attempting-crossing the sea, entering Lanka protected by Raavana and his formidable hosts and accomplishing the task set him by his king not only fully but beyond the fondest hopes of all."
Ram Ji says that no one could hope for what Hanuman Ji had accomplished. Nobody could think of the sea of difficulties that Hanuman Ji had crossed.
And brothers and sisters that is why we are walking on the path of the guiding principle of Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas.
Be it Jan Dhan scheme for connecting the poorest of the poor with the banking system, today we have tried to move ahead by developing a system for the poor. And there is an option for insurance. Farmers have taken advantage of it. Farmers have been provided the crop insurance scheme at the lowest premium. We have been running Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme in order to protect, to provide education to daughters. A nationwide scheme has been developed to provide financial assistance to pregnant women. Fifty million families, the mothers who used wood based stove for cooking food and in one day they used to inhale the smoke equal to smoking 400 cigarettes, in order to provide good health, primary care to these mothers we have resolved to provide gas connections to 50 million families and we have already provided 15 million gas connections.
The service to the oppressed, to the persecuted, to the disadvantaged gives us the formula that ‘serving the people is equal to the serving the god’. The Dalit youth of country have been empowered through stand up India, start up India. Mudra scheme has been launched in order to provide small businessmen loans at affordable rates. Poverty can only be eradicated by empowering the poor people. When the poor people are strengthened then he himself will ultimately succeed in eradicating the poverty. And he will enjoy the freedom from poverty and he will move ahead with a new strength.
In Ramayana, when there was a discourse between the Lord Ram and Bharat over the issue of governance then Lord Ram told Bharat:
कच्चिद् अर्थम् विनिश्चित्य लघु मूलम् महा उदयम् |
क्षिप्रम् आरभसे कर्तुम् न दीर्घयसि राघव ||
It means: Ram told Bharat to implement such schemes that will benefit the maximum number of people in the least expenditure. He also told Bharat not to brook any delay in implementing those schemes.
आयः ते विपुलः कच्चित् कच्चिद् अल्पतरो व्ययः |
अपात्रेषु न ते कच्चित् कोशो गग्च्छति राघव ||
Lord Ram also instructs Bharat to keep this thing in mind that the income must exceed the expenditure. He also instructs that undeserving should not get the benefit of the exchequer.
Saving the public money from undeserving people is also a part of the government culture. You would have seen that we have linked Aadhaar cards with bank accounts for the direct transfer of benefit, removal of fake ration cards, removal of fake gas connection holders, removal of fake teachers, removal of people who misappropriate others’ rights, this government has taken all these initiatives in the mission mode.
Brothers and sisters, today, the statue of mother India that is made of five irons is being dedicated to the public in Bharat Mata Sadan. The public dedication of this symbol of mother India is very auspicious thing. I bow down to all those people who have been associated with, who have dedicated themselves for this novel work.
Friends, I also bow down to the statue of saint Thiruvalluvar installed near the Vivekananda Rock Memorial. The teachings of saint Thiruvalluvar are completely correct and relevant even today. For the youth his message was- “In sandy soil, when deep you delve, you reach the springs below; The more you learn, the freer streams of wisdom flow.”
It means: if you keep digging deeper in the desert land, one day you will certainly find the water. Similarly, if you keep learning more and more, then one day you will certainly find the wisdom.
Today, on the occasion of youth day, my appeal to the youth of our country is to never stop the process of learning. Never ever let the student inside you die. The more you learn, the more you develop your spiritual power, your skills, the country and you will develop as much.
Some people fail to understand what the spiritual power means? They see it through the prism of religion. However, the spiritual power is beyond the religion. It is directly related to human values and to the divine power. Our former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, a great son of this land, used to say:
“Spirituality to me is the way we relate to God and the Divine. Staying connected with our spiritual life keeps us grounded and always be reminded of the value of life and important values such as honesty, loving our neighbors, and many other important traits that will make the workplace a positive environment”.
I’m happy that Vivekananda Kendra is working in the direction from several decades. Today, the Vivekanand Kendra has more than 200 branches and the Kendra has been running projects at more than 800 locations in the country. It is consistently working in the important fields of health, education, rural India and culture.
It is present in from Patna to Port Blair, from Karbi Anglong in Arunachal Pradesh to Anantnag in Kashmir, from Rameshwaram to Rajkot. I’d like to specially appreciate the work Vivekanand Kendra in the North Eastern states. Seven residential schools were opened in Arunachal Pradesh during the lifetime of Eknath Ji. Today, Vivekanand Kendra is associated with social work in more than 50 locations in the North East.
Numerous students, IIT students, doctors and professionals have been working at Vivekananda Kendra as volunteers. No salary is paid to them for this thing and all these things are done with a sense of duty. I believe that these volunteers who serve the society without any self-interest are a source of inspiration for all of us. They are an ideal example of service to the society while leading an ordinary life. They are in a way a direction, a guidance to the country’s youth.
Today, people associated with Vivekanand Kendra have playing a major role in nation building. I’m hopeful that the Kendra will continue to produce Vivekanands in the future generations in the similar manner.
Today, every single person who has been pro-actively fulfilling his duty in nation building is like Vivekananda. Every such person who has been working for the development of the disadvantaged, of the oppressed, of the exploited and of the persecuted is like Vivekanand. Every such person who has been putting his energy, his ideas or innovation in the service of society, he is like Vivekanand.
The mission that all of you are engaged in is like a Tapasya for the humanity, for our society, for our country. I wish that you people continue to serve the country with the same feelings.
Once again I convey my best wishes to all of you on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Vivekanand Ji, on the occasion of youth day. I say Jai Shri Ram to Bapu, I would like to conclude here by bowing down to Parmeshwaram Ji and others. And I believe that the way I was invited to come to Kanyakumari, it’s like my home, let’s see when I get the next opportunity. I keep running here and there, and I’m hopeful that I’d get some chance to come here in the middle of all this hustle and bustle. I will certainly come to offer my respect to that land, I will spend time with you people. I regret that I could not come there in person in this occasion. It’s cold here in Delhi and it’s hot there. Between the two, we will move ahead with new energy, new enthusiasm. With this feeling, I convey my best wishes to all of you on this holy occasion. Thank you very much.